Honkeiko Colliery

Mining Disaster
Saurabh Kumar 19BM63008 GROUP - 8
Sankalp Srivastava 19BM63018
Rahul Ganesh 19BM63026
Karthik Dasari 19BM63060
Ankit Mirajkar 19BM63062
 Overview
• Honkeiko colliery mining disaster, deadly explosion that occurred on April 26, 1942, in a coal mine
at Benxi, Liaoning Province in China.
• The disaster killed 1,549 Chinese miners.
• The colliery was part of a coal and iron operation established there in the early 20th century as a
joint Chinese-Japanese enterprise that gradually came under the complete control of the Japanese.
• Japanese invaded the Liaoning area in the 1930s, and during the Sino-Japanese War (1937–45)
they forced Chinese laborers—some of whom had been captured from local military organizations
—to work in the mines.
• Diseases such as typhoid and cholera flourished in the camp.
 Overview
• On April 26, 1942, a gas and coal-dust explosion in the mine sent flames bursting from the mine shaft
entrance.
• A dust explosion is the rapid combustion of fine particles suspended in the air within an enclosed
location.
• Dust explosions can occur where any dispersed powdered combustible material is present in high-
enough concentrations in the atmosphere or other oxidizing gaseous medium, such as pure oxygen. In
cases when fuel plays the role of a combustible material, the explosion is known as a fuel-air explosion.
• Due to the raging 2nd world war and lack of initial publicity, no one learned about the incident in the
immediate aftermath
• The flimsy shoes issued by the mine lasted less than one week.
 Possible Causes
• Working conditions were poor as there were no safety standards and the working condition of labours
was pathetic
• One day, a fire broke out in one of the mine-shafts due to mixing of gas and coal dust. The fire became
worse due to the enclosed area of the shaft and presence of particulate matter inside
• To prevent the fire from spreading, the Japanese mine operators shut down the shaft and locked away
the only means to get out of the shaft, thereby leaving the people inside to die
• The resulting carbon monoxide poisoning led to the death of 1,549 people
• The Japanese mine operators set up an electrical fence around the mine to prevent the relatives of the
mine workers from entering and re-opening the shaft
• The Soviet Union later investigated and blamed the actions of the Japanese for needlessly increasing the
death toll
 Govt Rules and Labor Legislations violations

• Laborers rights were violated by Japanese, as they had forced all the laborers to work without health inspection. The
mine worker people are poor so they can’t afford expensive medical treatment and their isolated location and poverty
denied them access to health care and the diseases often proved fatal.

• Safety regulations should had been practised at the place for all the laborers which also required removal of
accumulated coal dust and the use of crushed limestone or "rock dust" to neutralize the combustibility of fine
particles of coal that naturally cling to mine equipment, floors, pillars and roofs.

• There should have also been provisions like setting up standards to reduce dust and the Black Lung Disability Trust
Fund (BLDTF), which pays health benefits to coal miners afflicted with black lung. As it is said that a miner who
spent 25 years in underground coal mines has a 5-10% risk of contracting the disease.
 Govt Rule and Labor Legislations violations

• After proper investigation of the coal mining site, plans had to be implemented that would require underground mines
to do more to control explosive coal dust under an emergency rule. For this they needed to do periodic inspections of
mines to keep vigil over the status of safety and investigate into accidents and complaints

• An another human right violation was that though a tremendous effort was devoted to kill the fire by cutting off the
ventilation and sealing the mine, but that method left many surviving workers inside to suffocate to death.
 Role of Administration
Risk involves the occurrence or potential occurrence of some accidents consisting of an event or sequence of
events. The risk assessment study covers the following:
• Identification of potential hazard areas;
• Identification of representative failure cases;
• Visualization of the resulting scenarios in terms of fire and explosion;
• Assess the overall damage potential of the identified hazardous events and the impact zones from the
accidental scenarios;
• Assess the overall suitability of the site from hazard minimization and disaster mitigation point of view;
• Furnish specific recommendations on the minimization of the worst accident possibilities; and
• Preparation of broad DMP, On-site and Off-site Emergency Plan, which includes Occupational Health and
Safety Plan.
 Role of Administration
The complete mining will be carried out under the management control and direction of a qualified mine
manager holding a first class manager’s certificate of competency.

The duty to prepare the off-site plan lies with the local authorities. The EPO (Emergency Planning Officer)
appointed should carry out his duty in preparing for a whole range of different emergencies within the local
authority area. The EPO should liaise with the works, to obtain the information to provide the basis for the
plan.

This liaison should ensure that the plan is continually kept up to date. It will be the responsibility of the EPO
to ensure that all those organizations which will be involved off site in handling the emergency, know of their
role and are able to accept it by having for example, sufficient staff and appropriate equipment to cover their
particular responsibilities.
 How could these violations had been avoided?
Instead of forcing all the laborers to work
in the mining, there should had been an
enforcement agency which ensures
compliance of the stated provisions
through inspections by inspecting officers.
The health, safety and welfare provisions
of Mines Act and Rules are invariably
checked during the course of general
inspection of the mines.
There should had been:
1. Inspection of mines.
2. Investigation into –
1. accidents
2. dangerous occurrences – emergency response
3. complaints & other matters
3. Promoting – -
1. Safety education and awareness programmes
2. Workers’ participation in safety management through
Workmen’s inspector
3. Safety committee
 Aftermath of the disaster
• It took workers ten days to remove all the corpses and rubble from the shaft.
• The dead were buried in a mass grave nearby. Many victims could not be properly identified due to the
extent of the burns.
• The Japanese at first reported the death toll to be 34
• Initial newspaper reports were short, as few as 40 words, and downplayed the scale of the disaster,
characterizing it as a minor event.
• Later the Japanese erected a monument to the dead. This stone gave the number of dead as 1,327 but
The true number is believed to be 1,549 i.e 34% of the miners working that day
• During the investigation done by the Soviet Union it was found that only some of the workers died
directly from the gas and coal-dust explosion
• Most deaths were from carbon monoxide poisoning produced when the Japanese closed the ventilation
and sealed the pit head after the initial explosion
Thanks !